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| The Endtimes arrive before Godot in Road Show (photo: Marc Marnie) |
The Apocalyptic Road Show
Ice Factory 2012
written by John Clancy
directed by Peter Clerke
This proudly
shabby comedy-with-songs only masquerades as a cabaret and doesn't
even pretend to be a “road show”. A
pair of down-at-heel performers (Brit Nancy Walsh and American
Catherine Gillard) chirpily run through sketches and songs on the
theme of the End of Days, an event that's characterized as part
latter-day capitalism, part Evangelist dogma. The duo shows some
chemistry, especially in a vaudevillian bit that happily riffs on the
phrase “shit-grubber”. But the songs are lame, the apocalyptic
vision is benign, and the characters are interchangeable—so much so
that on the evening I attended, they confused each other's names! Pin
the blame on the script, by John Clancy, that lacks a savagery which
would lend vigor to its cynicism. Occasionally, TARS does indict the
audience, safe in our First World indulgences. But by its end, the
play pats us on the head and simply pleads sentimentally for a kinder
world.
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The Apocalyptic Road Show, part
of the Ice Factory 2012, plays at the New Ohio Theater.
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